1. MARKETBRIEF
Video Streaming Expands
Reach of Higher Ed
Video streaming and video conferencing extend the reach of colleges
and universities beyond their physical campus, country or even
continent. These technologies allow students at a local campus to
converse with and learn from experts anywhere in the world. They
also create opportunities for students who cannot reach the physical
campus to attend classes and contribute to discussion and research.
Video streaming and video conferencing increase the number of
students a college or university can accommodate (and thus the
revenue it can generate), improve students’ educational experience
and reduce the cost of everything from recruiting to research
collaboration and professional development. And unlike previous
generations of equipment that required expensive proprietary hardware
and software, modern video streaming systems allow video to be
viewed over users’ PCs or even handheld devices such as iPhones.
Video Opportunities Supporting Technologies
One of the most widespread uses of video streaming is for distance Video streaming and video conferencing are two related, but different,
learning – watching and listening to a class or lecture from a school technologies used by colleges and universities to share video.
in a different state or even continent, whenever and wherever the
Video streaming refers to the one-way sharing of recorded material
student wishes. This can improve the educational experience, and thus
from a central media server over an Intranet or the Internet. It captures
the satisfaction level, for students by giving them access to a much
live real-time video from common sources such as video cameras,
wider range of teachers, classes, special events and ideas than are
stores it on a media server and manages the delivery of the video in
available on their own campus. Distance learning can also allow a
compressed form. It can be delivered over wired or wireless local area
college or university to accommodate a larger number of students
networks, wide-area networks or over the Internet. Unlike movie files
without acquiring expensive real estate or scheduling classes at a
(MPG, AVI, etc.) that are played after they are downloaded, streaming
given time.
video is played within a few seconds of requesting the file(s) and the
Video streaming provides similar benefits for faculty and staff, allowing data is not permanently stored on the user’s device.
them to receive training, see the work of their peers and take classes
This technology is best suited for the capture, cataloguing and viewing
for professional development whenever and wherever they want
of events such as classroom lectures or training sessions by either one
to – even while traveling using their notebook computers or
or many users at the same time. Modern media servers running on
handheld devices.
industry-standard hardware allow schools to cost-effectively catalog,
Video conferencing allows students, faculty and staff to collaborate in search, access and preserve thousands of hours of video content
real-time with their peers without the disruption, cost and loss of through a Web portal.
productivity caused by travel. Today’s video conferencing technologies
also allow organizations to store, catalog, search and share video
conferences as needed.

2. Market Brief - Video Streaming Expands Reach of Higher Ed ____________________________________________________________________________________ 2
Because video must sometimes be edited and organized to be most
Video Streaming in Higher Ed: Benefits effective, AT&T video streaming solutions give users the capability to
edit content before it is published. This includes trimming footage,
• Improved educational experience increases student adding captions, or dividing content into chapters. They can also
satisfaction/retention manage which viewers can see which content, and track which viewers
• Increased enrollment/revenue opportunity through watched which content, when they watched it, and for how long.
streaming of classes to remote students AT&T video conferencing solutions allow users to conduct a live
• Reduced professional development and training costs broadcast or multi-point video conference, using hardware from a
through use of video training variety of equipment manufacturers that adheres to industry-standard
protocols. These common protocols allow users to connect to a variety
• Reduced costs, increased revenue and higher visibility of systems found throughout the video community. These systems can
through cataloguing and reuse of lectures and connect via dial-up connections or through IP networks such as the
other content Internet or an internal Intranet.
• Reduction in travel costs through use of video conferencing AT&T video streaming solutions allow users to record a broadcast or
multi-point video conference, to store the content on industry standard
• Increased flexibility, allowing students, faculty and staff
media servers and to access the video conference over either the
to hear lectures or receive training on their own schedules
Internet or an Intranet.
• Cost-effective recruiting through virtual campus tours
Video Streaming in Higher Ed: Applications
Video conferencing, by contrast, is the two-way sharing of real-time
audio and video among multiple sites. It is best suited for cases where • Administrator meetings
immediate, two-way communication is required. Unlike video
• Teacher/staff training
streaming, it is delivered using custom hardware and software.
• Virtual campus tours
AT&T Products and Services
AT&T provides a broad range of products and services to help colleges • Orientation
and universities capture, store, catalog and share video, regardless of
• Financial aid assistance
their information-sharing needs or network infrastructure.
• Distance learning/research
AT&T video streaming solutions include network-accessible IP- (Internet
Protocol) based video conference recorders that eliminate the need to • Professional development
attach a DVR or VCR to every video conferencing device. These can
record, stream and archive video of conference participants, as well as • Rebroadcast of lectures/guest speakers
content such as presentations, in high definition and deliver on-demand
video to any end-point ranging from an auditorium to a user’s wireless
notebook, iPhone or iPod. Knowledge Anywhere, Anytime
Video streaming and video conferencing are powerful media for sharing
These AT&T solutions provide scalable centralized video content
a faculty lecture, an interactive seminar or an administrative planning
management, including clustered configurations that provide a single
session over the barriers of time and space. AT&T video streaming and
IP address for recording, regardless of which device in the cluster the
video conferencing products and services help colleges and universities
content is stored on. Faculty, staff or students can package video
reach more students more effectively, foster collaboration and pursue
content with documents, presentations or other data for customized
their core missions of teaching and research while reducing costs.
delivery, as well as catalogue and search it by category, keyword or
other options through a custom portal.
For more information contact your AT&T Representative or visit us at www.corp.att.com/edu.
11/20/08 AB-1490
© 2008 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. AT&T and the AT&T logo are trademarks of AT&T Intellectual Property.